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CBN is a global ministry committed to preparing the nations of the world for the coming of Jesus Christ through mass media. Using television and the Internet, CBN is proclaiming the Good News in 149 countries and territories, with programs and content in 67 languages.

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Everything seemed good and getting better in ancient Egypt, the richest land on Earth. Surely this prosperity would last forever, most believed.

But the Pharaoh had disturbing dreams. Out of the Nile came seven fat cattle. Then from the river came seven scrawny cows, which devoured the fat ones. Likewise, he dreamed of seven ears of grain that were plump, then of another seven wind-destroyed ears that ate up the seven fat ears.

The Pharaoh’s wise men and magicians could not tell him what these dreams meant. The ruler then learned of a young servant with a gift for interpreting dreams named Joseph.

Pharaoh’s dream, said the young Hebrew who had been sold into slavery by his brothers, foretold that Egypt would have seven fat years of abundance and rich crops, followed by seven lean years of crop failures that could cause famine and social collapse.

Joseph told the Pharaoh, according to Genesis, that Egypt should store up one-fifth of all the harvests of the seven plenteous years to prepare for the coming seven hungry years. Pharaoh gave Joseph great power, second only to his own, to do this…and it was done.

When the seven lean years arrived, and “when money failed in the land of Egypt,” says the Bible, Pharaoh had enough food for his own people and his land’s needy neighbors. He also had been able to save seed corn to expand Egypt’s power and wealth when the seven bad years passed and things grew again. Pharaoh’s preparation saved both Egypt and Joseph’s Hebrew people, given refuge in Egypt from the widespread famine. [1]

Things likewise seem good and getting better today in America, the richest land on Earth. Surely the prosperity and growing abundance inspired by President Donald Trump will last forever, many seem to believe. We should not save, but spend.

Too many have forgotten the practical wisdom of the Bible so carefully studied by America’s Framers. As the New Testament teaches: “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” [2]

What made America prosperous was self-reliance, thrift, and prudent preparation for the future. Abundance is a time for saving, not just squandering what one has today or expects to have tomorrow.

Today too many of us trust not in God but in government largesse. Why be prudent or cautious? If we fail, millions say, the welfare state will care for us. Indeed, the French philosopher Friedrich Bastiat said that government has become the illusion that everyone can live at the expense of everyone else, but ever-fatter government lives at the expense of all of us.

We no longer understand that ultimately, like the Little Red Hen in the fable [3], we must take responsibility for doing things ourselves. We must, as the Scouts teach, “Be Prepared.” Our pioneer ancestors grew and hunted their own food, had their own well and firewood, built their own house.

But we, their descendants, have largely gone from self-reliant independence to dependence on government. And politicians eager to control us have promoted this.

Why do we want personal independence? Not only because we love freedom, but also because even the most well-intended government is incompetent compared to the free market, as America’s Framers knew. “Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap,” wrote Thomas Jefferson, “we should soon want bread.” [4]

America has a rare leader in President Trump, a President of energy and vision who strives to restore America’s greatness. But in 2018 Mr. Trump celebrates his 72nd birthday. His enemies in the media promote words and images of the President being assassinated with guns, knives, or beheading – a veritable “how to” guide of hate repeatedly shown to the mentally unstable among us. [5]

Even if President Trump is re-elected and lives out a successful eight years in office, the Constitution allows him less than seven more years in the White House. In other words, if we are lucky when we throw the dice, the best we can roll is less than seven more years.

At worst – God forbid! – President Trump could be brought down by all the hate aimed at him, or by a stroke or heart attack. Tomorrow morning we could turn on the news and learn of his passing, of the resulting collapse of stock markets and the economy, and of the start of civil war because of what appears to be a coup d’etat against the government Americans voted for. Will you be ready?

The greatest of events can come unexpectedly, “like a thief in the night,” so “Let us not sleep, as do others,” but let us watch and be sober,” said St. Paul.

“For when they say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them.” [6]

We have not yet seen “the end of history.” Kingdoms still rise and wane, and humankind still lives in the Tytler Cycle. Nations win their freedom by great courage, achieve prosperity by thrift and hard work, and then exchange their personal responsibility and independence for pleasure and laziness. St. Paul wrote the above words from Athens, which fell from a Golden Age to today’s debased culture; Greece is still here, but its Golden Age is gone.

Those who depend not on themselves but on President Trump for their well-being will be disappointed. He will pass, one way or another. As France’s Charles De Gaulle said, “The graveyards are full of indispensible men.” Who had expected history to pivot on the sudden deaths of Justice Antonin Scalia at age 38, or Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at age 39, or of Julius Caesar or so many others? How might history be changed today if Abraham Lincoln had lived to restore harmony after the Civil War?

Even if he succeeds, Trump’s party could lose one or both houses of Congress in 2018, 2020 or 2022, letting opponents stymie his future plans. We could have far less than seven years to restore American greatness. If Trump is thwarted from setting things right, what other pro-free market leader has the charisma and courage to take up his banner and succeed?

Many oppose Mr. Trump because they want America dissolved into a global government; others simply because they prefer welfare-state socialism to the individual responsibility and hard work of capitalism.

After his time in office, the following seven years will bring the overdue bills of our by-then $25 Trillion national debt by politicians addicted to spending, our nation’s waning fertility, a tidal wave of illegal foreign voters, and a thousand other problems without a leader of President Trump’s wisdom or fortitude to face them down.

Seven years hence, America’s Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and interest on the national debt will be close to devouring the entire federal budget. Today these things already eat up more than 70 percent of the budget. Next to nothing will be left for national defense, infrastructure, medical research, space exploration, or any other activity. And those who take power next will likely impose massive tax increases on business and successful individuals – because government will desperately need revenue to sustain the welfare state and the ruling party’s gimme-pig voters.

America has approximately 104 million full-time workers in the private sector. But government at all levels has 22 million employees plus millions more government pension recipients, plus more than 52 million taking some type of means-tested government benefit – far more than 74 million people dependent on government, and growing. This divide is echoed in the struggle between our two major political parties, one quasi-capitalist and the other increasingly socialist.

Under such pressure, the paper money is going to fail. Government will print dollars by more tens of trillions out of thin air, making what we earn and have saved for retirement worthless. Anything denominated in dollars – stocks, bonds, IRAs, 401(k)s, investment funds, bank accounts, and the like – will likely become as worthless as the value of paper dollars.

Too late, most Americans will learn that fakery describes more than the news the establishment feeds them. We increasingly live with fake money, fake credit, and fake information in a fake economic prosperity. This is the dragon Sir Donald Trump is bravely trying to slay, to restore real, honest money, work and prosperity in America.

People gambled on dollar-denominated investments because they appeared profitable, but that was because investors did not calculate their real risks and costs. How valuable is debased money whose worth depends on politicians and can vanish overnight? How wise is an investment that brings uncertainty, anxiety and stress that increases your risk of cancer, stroke, or heart attack? And that causes sleepless nights or nightmares? How would Joseph interpret today’s investment nightmares? He told Pharaoh to restore his peace of mind and security by hedging against the nightmare, by saving up what had real value then as it does today.

People who trust in cryptocurrencies will suddenly discover why this name shares the same root word as “crypt,” a place of burial. Those who are part of the government’s “cashless society,” whose money is mere computer blips, will find themselves in a crashed, cashed-in economy and society.

Those who prepare wisely, on the other hand, will have converted up to a fifth of their earnings and savings into the one thing that will retain its value – precious metal, especially gold. While others see their paper money devoured in a blaze of hyperinflation, prudent people will see the value of their gold skyrocket because it is the last reliable store of value. We can thus create not a cashless, but a crash-less, society, or at least crash-protected families.

The wise will survive. And if this gold-secured “saving remnant” – the remnant who prudently save real value – is large enough, they will be the ones able to rescue their family, neighbors, and nation, as Joseph did long ago.